For Moloco's Retail Media Platform, should we focus on expanding the number of ad placements or improving the relevance of existing placements?

Introduction

For Moloco's Retail Media Platform, we're facing a critical trade-off between expanding ad placements and improving the relevance of existing ones. This decision will significantly impact our revenue potential, user experience, and platform growth. I'll analyze this trade-off by examining our current product state, potential impacts, key metrics, and experimental approaches to guide our decision-making process.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)

• Based on our current market position, I'm thinking this decision could significantly impact our competitive edge. Could you share how our ad relevance and placement options compare to our main competitors?

Why it matters: Helps contextualize our decision within the competitive landscape. Expected answer: We're slightly behind in relevance but have more placement options. Impact on approach: Would prioritize relevance improvements if we're lagging behind.

• Considering our revenue model, I assume a significant portion comes from ad placements. What percentage of our revenue is currently derived from the Retail Media Platform?

Why it matters: Determines the financial impact of our decision. Expected answer: 60-70% of revenue comes from the platform. Impact on approach: Higher percentage would lean towards cautious expansion to protect core revenue.

• Looking at user behavior, have we seen any recent changes in ad engagement rates across different placements?

Why it matters: Indicates user receptiveness to current ad strategies. Expected answer: Slight decline in engagement for certain placements. Impact on approach: Would focus on improving relevance for underperforming placements.

• From a technical standpoint, how scalable is our current ad serving infrastructure?

Why it matters: Determines our capacity to handle increased ad load. Expected answer: Infrastructure can handle 2x current load without major upgrades. Impact on approach: More headroom would favor expansion; limitations would prioritize optimization.

• Regarding our team resources, do we have more capacity in our ad placement team or our machine learning/relevance team?

Why it matters: Influences which approach we can execute more effectively. Expected answer: ML team has more bandwidth currently. Impact on approach: Would lean towards relevance improvements if ML team has more capacity.